


Better Go With The Devil You Know

by Inu_Sama



Series: HP FICS [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bad Albus Dumbledore, Dark Harry Potter, Little ball of sociopath~, M/M, Sane Voldemort (Harry Potter), Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Smart Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 06:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17441501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inu_Sama/pseuds/Inu_Sama
Summary: "Mee fwault! Snakey man fo-for mee. Let Snakey man tak-take mee!" Harry patted the space over his heart, brows together and mouth twisted in a moue of frustration as the failings of his uncoordinated body became apparent."I quite agree, Mrs Potter." The deep hissy voice of the Snakey man purred from behind them and Lily let out a strangled gasp as she whirled to face him with her wand pointed at him.





	1. Prologue

_ October 31st, 1981  _

_ Godric's Hollow _

 

"Take Harry! Go upstairs! I'll hold him off!" His father ordered as the door blasted open in a shower of wood with a noise like a gunshot. But even Harry, as young as he was, could hear the rising panic in his voice. It made his own calm feel even more wrong, shouldn't he be panicking too? 

Before he could think on why he wasn't panicking, Harry was lifted into the air from the playpen. He was bouncing in his mother's arms as she raced through the house to the stairs when Harry felt an overwhelming presence enter their home. It filled the house with an oppressive heat that had his cheeks flushing from the sudden rise in temperature. There was  _ so much of it _ .

"You need not  _ die  _ here today, Potter. Just  _ give me the child. _ " A deep voice offered in slight exasperation, a hissing lilt to each word that made Harry's insides flutter. He knew then, that  _ this  _ was the Bad Man his parents had whispered about when they thought Harry wasn't listening. Or, more accurately, when they thought he  _ couldn't understand _ .

But Harry had always been able to understand, his mental development was  _ years  _ above what someone his age should be capable of. So, he  _ knew  _ this was  _ his  _ fault. The Bad Man was after  _ him _ , not his parents. He didn't know what he had done to make the man so angry, but he had to try and save his parents. They didn't need to suffer for his mistakes.

He wiggled in Lily's arms, trying to get her attention, to  _ just let the Snakey man take him _ .

"Bwa! Snek! Mee!" He slapped an insistent hand against her neck, but it was no use. She wasn't paying attention to him, her frantic gaze splitting between watching the progress of their intruder and where she planted her socked feet on the stairs.

Bright green eyes caught sight of long fingers flicking a white wand towards them from over her shoulder and he screeched in warning just as they reached the landing to the first floor. Lily winced at the sound, Harry having directed it right in her ear. But thankfully she jumped out of the way in time, being careful not to jostle him too much, and the sickly red light splashed harmlessly against the wall.

" _ No! _ I won't let you have him!" His father shouted, his own wand firing off lights that the Snakey man had no trouble deflecting like they were nothing more than a minor nuisance. Harry knew then, that he could not stop this and he watched in despair as the Snakey man turned to play with his father. If the Snakey man was serious, James would have already been defeated.

His mother's harsh breaths tickled his ear, but he didn't feel like laughing. The fear and  _ despair  _ soaking his mother's magic was almost suffocating, plugging his nose and filling his lungs as it circled around him protectively. Because he was so close to her, it almost completely drowned out the magic he could feel radiating in  _ waves  _ from the Snakey man.

"James!" She cried when there was a scream and the sound of a body falling, thumping against the carpet. Tears filled Harry's eyes but refused to spill over as he was placed in his crib, his mother blocking his view of the door. He seemed to have skipped panic altogether and went straight to grief.

Lily closed and locked the nursery door before whirling around with her wand out as she tried to find a solution. She paced frantically in front of him, muttering to herself. Harry knew the Snakey man had done something so they couldn't leave, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to play with James like that.

Harry felt the big presence of the Snakey man coming up the stairs, but he seemed to be the only one to notice. Lily was still crying and tapping her wand against her thigh with shaky hands. He had to warn her. He had to fix this. 

"Mum." She snapped her head to face him, like she had momentarily forgotten he could talk. Then her face twisted and she cried harder as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh! Harry, I'm so sorry! I should have done more! I should have been the Secret Keeper, this is all my fault!" She wailed, so sure of their imminent demise that she didn't bother to keep her voice down. Harry pushed her away and glared at her. 

"No! No fwa-fwault!" He growled angrily, stumbling over the new word as his tongue struggled to form the correct sounds. She flinched as if he'd slapped her. 

"Harry?" She looked like she was at her wits end, like any more stress and fear and she would combust.

"Mee fwault! Snakey man fo-for mee. Let Snakey man tak-take  _ mee! _ " Harry patted the space over his heart, brows together and mouth twisted in a moue of frustration as the failings of his uncoordinated body became apparent.

"I quite agree, Mrs Potter." The deep hissy voice of the Snakey man purred from behind them and Lily let out a strangled gasp as she whirled to face him with her wand pointed at him. She had been so distracted by Harry that she hadn't heard him unlock the door. That was what Harry had wanted, the Snakey man needed to see that he was willing to offer himself up in place of his mother.

"Snakey man lea-leave mum?" Harry asked, struggling up onto his feet as his little chubby hands gripped the bars of his cot. Red eyes looked down at him in interest, even as hairless brows furrowed in either confusion or thought, Harry couldn't tell. 

"No! You're not taking my son!" Lily snarled, her wand arm shaking as the mortal face of death turned to her with a smirk. The Snakey man stepped forward so that the tip of his mother's wand was pressing directly against his chest. 

"Do it, if you want to  _ save  _ your son,  _ avenge  _ the death of your husband,  _ do it! _ " he roared in her face and Lily's legs buckled, the fear and the stress too much to keep her standing. Snakey man laughed and sent a gold light soaring towards her and his mother's body went limp. 

Harry sucked in a harsh breath and blew it out in relief when he felt the ambient swirl of his mother's magic. She was still here, just asleep. He opened his eyes to see Snakey man watching him with an odd look on his face.

Harry cocked his head to the side, eyes snapping to the tendril of darkness that oozed out of Snakey man and towards him. With a frown Harry reached up with a tiny finger and touched it, letting his own magic mingle with the tendril of the Snakey man's. Dark mixed with Darker still and the Snakey man shivered.

"My my, I can see now why you are prophesied to defeat me, little one." Snakey man pulled his magic back and Harry stumbled at the unexpected loss. The pale face hardened before his eyes as the white wand was lifted toward him. 

"It really is a shame to lose such a gifted child, but I cannot take the chance. For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Then there was a flash of blazing green and Harry's world was a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes before someone screamed and the crack of lightning sounded outside and the smell of burnt flesh filled his nose.


	2. Wool's

_ May 5th, 1991 _

_ Private Drive _

 

"Boy! Get over here!" Petunia screeched as she leant into the hall stand - and the mirror attached to it - beside the front door to check that her makeup was flawless and her hair was perfectly crimped in loose waves that tickled her cheeks and made her look younger than she really was. Kinder.

Harry tried not to let his disgust show on the surface as he obediently left his cupboard and met her at the door. She immediately latched a manicured hand onto his shoulder and pulled him forward, her nails digging into his skin like claws. He was dragged outside and thrust into the closed passenger door of the car, the handle cutting into his arm with bruising force.

He barely made a sound, the only evidence it hurt at all was the anger that rippled across his mask before it was gone. 

"Get in before the neighbours see you!" His aunt hissed, the driver door creaking as she wrenched it open with one bony hand while the other clutched a set of keys. They sparkled in the early morning light.

Harry only complied with her demands as he knew what today was. Today, he was being dropped off at an orphanage. He could only hope that all the horror stories Uncle Vernon had told him to get him to obey the man, were lies. 

Though, considering the absolute hell he'd been through with these people? He could definitely take on bullies and corporal punishment, he could take the beatings and the hand-me-downs. 

What Vernon didn't realise was that he got  _ that  _ and more  _ here _ , so why wouldn't he want to act out and be sent to an orphanage? It had to be better than this, right?

Petunia hardly waited for the click of his seatbelt before she was pulling out of the driveway, a squeaky female voice telling them the weather with exaggerated enthusiasm through the car's speakers. 

They didn't talk throughout the half hour drive, they didn't stop for breakfast when Harry's stomach rumbled and Petunia didn't change the station when the radio shifted to some poppy new music that grated on Harry's ears uncomfortably. In fact, she turned the volume up.

"Get out." She ordered, car idling on the other side of the street from the rundown building with a wrought iron sign outside stating it was 'Wool's Orphanage'. He eyed the practically dilapidated roof with distaste, where the vines were left to run free and looked to be trying to strangle the two storey brick box. 

"I said out!" Petunia snarled harshly, ripping his seatbelt from its port and shoving at him. Since this was the last time he would hopefully ever be in her presence, Harry bared his teeth at her and watched in satisfaction as she paled and quickly retracted her hand, like she thought he would bite her. 

It was a tempting thought, but one that would lose him any sort of decorum he managed to still hold onto despite the oversized stained shirt and ripped jeans he was forced into the moment he woke up this morning. He was just glad she saw fit to allow him a pair of shoes.

"I pray to a god I don't believe in, that we  _ never  _ see each other again." were his parting words as he jumped out of the car. He watched the most awful woman he'd ever met, drive away for a moment before he huffed and started towards his new hell on earth. He hoped they would at least feed him.

_ "What?" _ An older woman snapped as soon as she opened the door. Her stern gaze travelled from well above Harry's head down to his face, taking in the rags he wore and the stony expression on his face with a sigh.

"Alright, get in." She opened the door wider and Harry ducked under her arm, the smell of old school shoe polish and wood filling his nose as soon as he stepped into the foyer. 

_'At_ _least it's clean,'_ he thought bitterly, looking around. Whether the children here were expected to keep it that way or not remained to be seen. The old woman passed him with quick and sure steps, absently adjusting her faded grey habit.

"This way." The matron barked, leading him over to a door on the right side of the foyer. It was an office, a rather unfriendly room with uncomfortable straight backed chairs and a gothic colour scheme that was more drab and decrepit than anything. The woman sat in the lone wingback behind the big mahogany desk and pulled out some papers from a draw, setting them on the faux leather ink blotter. 

"Name and age?" She asked without looking up, a cheap biro poised to write on what must be an application or report. Harry perched on the edge of one of the chairs facing the desk and contemplated how he wanted this meeting to go. He could become a completely different person, change his name so that no one would be able to find him to force him back to the Dursleys.

He looked around the room discreetly as he tried to find a convincing last name. He liked 'Hadrian' as a first name, he remembered reading it in the public library - one of the only places his cousin wouldn't follow him - and it sounded much better than just 'Harry'.

"Hadrian… Black, 10 years old. My birthday is the 31st of July." He hurried to add when it looked like she was going to ask that next. He figured it would be alright to use his real birth date, there were probably lots of children in the system with the same birthdays.

The matron pinned him with a look like she knew what he was trying to do, but didn't care enough to correct him. She scribbled down his answers on the form, stopping to study him before muttering to herself about his hair and eye colour. 

"Stand over by the wall, the one with the measuring tape - yes that one." Harry pressed his back to it and stood as still and straight as he could while she took his height. She tsked as she wrote down the results, muttering about  _ 'too short, have to feed him more.'  _ and Harry tried not to growl at her. It wasn't his fault the Dursleys never fed him!

When she was done with the 'examination', she pressed a button on her desk and a buzzing noise could be heard. A much younger woman popped her head into the room, smiling kindly when she spotted Harry, before looking at the matron expectantly. 

The old woman sat back in her chair, messaging the bridge of her nose under her glasses, the act jostling them to the point she had to adjust them before speaking again.

"Amber, this is  _ Hadrian, _ " She sent him a knowing look which Harry himself ignored in favour of trying to read the spines on the bookshelf next to the door with his limited eyesight. He knew his glasses weren't the right prescription, they hadn't been when the Dursleys had so kindly bought them for him all those years ago. He just hoped they weren't doing irreversible damage to his eyesight. 

"I've just filled out the paperwork but he needs new clothes and a decent meal before showing him to a room." The Matron explained, looking too world-weary for so early in the morning. Harry tried not to look surprised at the fact he  _ would _ , in fact, be getting the bare essentials all other humans needed to live somewhat comfortably. 

Fucking Dursleys, he should have tried  _ years  _ ago to get sent here if the kids here had it that good.

Amber opened the door wider and motioned for him to follow, the woman practically radiating saintly vibes as she showed him around and talked his ears off. The only reason he endured such a disgustingly sunny disposition was because he could tell it was genuine and he wasn't above wearing masks if it meant he could gather allies in this new and unfamiliar ecosystem.

And it  _ was  _ an ecosystem, the inhabitants seemed to have a symbiotic relationship between not only kids and adults, but each other as well. It was equal measures fascinating and disturbing to witness. 

The fact that he was now expected to become a part of that relationship both immensely pleased him(because this was probably as  _ far  _ from the Dursleys as he could get in terms of treatment) and unnerved him - because this was  _ definitely  _ as far from the Dursleys as he could get, thus he was out of his depth in how to 'fit in' as he'd never had a need to before now.

Still, Harry thought it prudent to just do what he always did - fly under the radar. He was sure to learn the individual dynamics of this new jungle and where he rated soon enough.


End file.
